Typhoid is potentially fatal infectious disease caused by bacterium Salmonella typhi (S. typhi). It is also commonly known as “Miyadi bukhar” in India.
Typhoid is a serious health problem in the developing countries; especially the parts of South East Asia and Africa, due to uncleanness and poverty.
It is evident that each year more than 600,000 deaths occur due to typhoid and similarly 16 millions suffered from the same in around the world (WHO estimation).
Common worldwide, typhoid is transmitted by the ingestion of food or water contaminated with feces from an infected person. The bacteria then perforate through the intestinal wall of healthy person and phagocytosed by macrophages. Salmonella typhi then alters its structure to resist destruction and allow itself to exist within the macrophage. This renders them resistant to damage by human immune system. The organism then spreads via the lymphatics while inside the macrophages. This gives them access to the reticuloendothelial system and then to the different organs throughout the body viz. liver (gall bladder), spleen, etc.
Symptoms usually develop one to three weeks after exposure, and may be mild or severe. They include high fever, malaise, headache, constipation or diarrhoea, rose-colored spots on the chest, and enlarged spleen and liver. Healthy carrier state may follow acute illness. Typhoid is also associated with various diseases such as hepatitis A, diarrhoea, dysentery, septicemia and encephalitis.
Typhoid fever can be treated with antibiotics. The following antimicrobials such as Ampicillin, chloramphenicol, trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole, Amoxicillin and ciprofloxacin, have been commonly used to treat typhoid in developed countries.
A preventive measure to cure typhoid includes vaccination and many vaccines have been prepared using Vi antigen of Salmonella typhi alone or with carrier molecules.
Mainly two vaccines are currently recommended by the World Health Organization for the prevention and treatment of typhoid such as oral Ty21, a vaccine (sold as Vivotif Berna) and the injectable Typhoid polysaccharide vaccine (sold as Typhim Vi by Sanofi Pasteur and Typherix by GlaxoSmithKline). Both are between 50 to 80% protective. There exists an older Heat-killed phenol whole-cell vaccine that is still used in countries where the newer preparations are not available, but this vaccine is no longer recommended for use, because it has a higher rate of side effects mainly pain and inflammation at the site of the injection.
Several chemically synthesized or chemical based products used for the prevention and treatment of bacterial infection such as typhoid, are well known in art. However due to their chemical reactive nature, they do not find ready acceptable with living objects/organism. As opposed to a chemically reactive mixture, it may be preferable to have an environmentally safe herbal formulation derived primarily from plants and plant extracts. Hence there is a need for an herbal based formulation without any significant side effects or adverse interactions with existing medication.
Many prior-art literatures reveal the use of vaccines and antibiotics for the prevention and treatment of typhoid and other bacterial infections. For example Chinese patent CN 1,011,996,37 (A) discloses a chinese medicine decoction used for treating typhoid comprising Atractylis ovata, Herba schizonepetae, Hurricane lamp, Kudzuvineroot, Pueraria lobata, Angelica, dried orange peel, Cassia twig, Notopterygium root, rhizoma Ligustici wallichii, Asarum and Angelica dahurica. 
Chinese patent CN1,011,125,36 (A) discloses a traditional Chinese medicine composition for treating typhoid fever and headache by internal administration. The active ingredients of the traditional Chinese medicine composition includes: 8 g of Chinese Angelica, 5 g of fine leaf Shizonepeta herb, 5 g of Divaricate saposhnikovia root, 5 g of incised Notopterygium rhizome, 5 g of Szechuan lovage rhizome, 3 g of manchurian wildginger, 8 g of dahurian angelica root, 5 g of tall gastrodia tuber, 4 g of Chinese ligusticum rhizome, 5 g of prepared common monkshood mother root and 4 g of liquoric root. Its advantages include low cost, high efficacy, short treatment course and durable efficacy, and the clinical verification proves that the effective rate can achieve more than 91 percent.
Chinese patent CN 1,915,411 (A) discloses Chinese medicine for treating the diseases in digestive tract, typhoid; which is prepared from liquor and twenty three Chinese-medicinal materials including cinnamon twig, white peony root, Astragalus root, Coptis root, etc.
Chinese patent CN 1,895,580 (A) discloses Chinese medicine for treating cold diseases, acyesis, menoxenia, morbid leucorrhoea, menalgia, etc and is prepared from wheat bran, broom cypress fruit, dove excrement, white cloves and black alum.
Similarly Patent No. CN 1,569,168 (A) discloses Chinese medicinal composition for treating typhoid, which is prepared from twenty eight herbs including baikal skullcap root, cork tree bark, giant knotweed rhizome, capsule of weeping forsythia, bark of peony root, radical lobelia, mulberry leaf, reed rhizome, kudzu vine root, earthworm, anemarrhena rhizome, matrimony vine, Ligustrum japonicum, Ophiopogon root, Asparagus root, Poria cocos, haw, dried orange peel, licorice root.
Another Chinese patent no. CN 1,350,870 (A) discloses Chinese medicine in the form of decoction, tablet or encapsule for treating typhoid is prepared from 25 Chinese-medicinal materials including Ledebouriella root, Schizonepeta, mint, Notopterygium root, Chuan-xiong rhizome, dehurian angelica root, etc. Its advantages are high effective rate up to more than 90%, and high cure rate up to more than 85%.
Chinese patent no. CN 1,325,702 (A) disclose Chinese medicine in the form of powder or pill for treating typhoid is prepared from nine Chinese-medicinal materials including American ginseng, Stemona root, dried ginger, Hippophae rhamnoides, etc. Its advantages include simple prescription and preparing process, high curative effect and short course of treatment (3-5 days).
All the available typhoid medicines and vaccines as mentioned have various side effects particularly to over aged people and Neonatal children.
Therefore to overcome these problems, there is a need of substances originating from herbal essences, in mixture or combination, with other substances constitutes, having properties of full and effective prevention of and treatment of various infectious diseases such as typhoid, while being safe for the environment and the organism (human or animal). There is a further need of a process for the preparation of such formulation.